July 1997 Employment Situation

Historical release narrative reproduced from the official public-domain source. Statistical tables, standard technical appendices, administrative material and attendance rosters are omitted; formatting is adapted for reading. Figures retain the release's historical context and may have been revised. Consult the linked source for the complete document.

Employment rose, and the unemployment rate edged down to 4.8 percent in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The jobless rate had risen from 4.8 percent in May to 5.0 percent in June. The number of payroll jobs increased by 316,000 in July, with widespread gains in the service-producing sector of the economy. Average weekly hours declined, and average hourly earnings were unchanged over the month.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The number of unemployed persons, 6.6 million, and the unemployment rate, 4.8 percent, edged down in July. Among the major worker groups, the rate for black workers declined to 9.4 percent. Rates for adult women (4.2 percent), adult men (4.0 percent), teenagers (16.4 percent), whites (4.2 percent), and Hispanics (7.9 percent) showed little or no change from June. (See tables A-1 and A-2.)

The number of persons unemployed for less than 15 weeks declined, with most of the drop occurring among those unemployed for less than 5 weeks. The number of persons unemployed for longer periods was little changed. As a result, both the mean and median duration of unemployment increased--to 16.6 and 8.5 weeks, respectively. A decline in the number of persons unemployed in July because they had lost their last jobs offset an increase of similar size in June. (See tables A-5 and A-6.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment rose in July, to a seasonally adjusted level of 129.7 million. Since July 1996, employment has increased by 2.5 million, after adjusting for the change in the population controls made in January. The proportion of the population with jobs (the employment-to-population ratio) was 63.8 percent in July; it has been at or near that level for 5 months. (See table A-1.)

About 8.1 million persons, not seasonally adjusted, held more than one job in July, up from 7.6 million a year earlier. These multiple jobholders accounted for 6.1 percent of all workers, compared with 5.9 percent in July 1996. (See table A-9.)

Both the civilian labor force, 136.3 million, and the labor force participation rate, 67.1 percent, were about unchanged in July and have shown little movement since March. (See table A-1.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.3 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in July--that is, they wanted and were available for work and had looked for jobs sometime in the prior 12 months.

The number of discouraged workers--a subset of the marginally attached who were not currently looking for jobs specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them or there were none for which they would qualify--was 311,000 in July, down from 423,000 a year earlier. (See table A-9.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Data)

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 316,000 to 122.4 million in July, after seasonal adjustment. Job gains had averaged 234,000 per month for the first 6 months of this year. Although gains were strong throughout most of the service-producing sector, employment was flat in the goods- producing sector. (See table B-1.)

Employment in services rose by 113,000 in July, about in line with the average monthly increases (106,000) during the first half of this year. Health services resumed its pattern of brisk hiring (31,000), after a small decline in June. Engineering and management services and computer and data processing services continued to show strength, generating job gains of 26,000 and 12,000, respectively. Stronger-than-usual summer hiring in membership organizations resulted in a large job gain in July (9,000).

Retail trade experienced a substantial increase in employment in July (65,000), the second large gain in a row. Roughly half of the July job gain occurred in eating and drinking places, as was the case in June. Food stores added 21,000 jobs in July, following relatively weak job growth in the first half of this year.

Government employment increased by 56,000 over the month. For the second month in a row, there was a large gain in local government education (48,000 in July). Changing seasonal patterns in hiring by local school systems make it difficult to seasonally adjust these data with precision. Federal government employment was little changed in July.

Within transportation and public utilities, trucking (12,000), air transportation (7,000), and communications (6,000) all showed employment increases, following little or no change in June. Employment in public utilities was about unchanged in July, but has declined by nearly 100,000 since November 1991. Finance, insurance, and real estate each showed substantial job gains in July. Insurance continued its recent growth spurt, adding 16,000 jobs since March. Wholesale trade employment rose sharply in July (29,000); durable goods distribution continued a strong growth trend, while the gain in nondurables reversed losses of 6,000 jobs in the prior 2 months.

Construction employment was little changed for the second month in a row. So far this year, construction has gained an average of 15,000 jobs a month, compared with 24,000 a month in 1996.

Manufacturing employment was little changed in July, following an increase of 22,000 in June. Gains in several durable goods industries in July were offset by widespread losses in nondurable goods. Strength in durables was again concentrated in industrial machinery (5,000), electronic components (4,000), and aircraft (4,000). Within nondurable goods, food products experienced the largest decline (8,000). Printing and publishing lost 3,000 of the 17,000 jobs it had added since February.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls declined by 0.3 hour in July to 34.4 hours, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek and factory overtime both fell slightly, to 41.7 and 4.6 hours, respectively. (See table B-2.)

As a result of the decline in the average workweek, the index of aggregate weekly hours of private production or nonsupervisory workers on nonfarm payrolls declined by 0.5 percent, to 139.9 (1982=100), seasonally adjusted. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Average hourly earnings of private production or nonsupervisory workers on nonfarm payrolls were unchanged at $12.23, seasonally adjusted, following a gain of 4 cents in June. Average weekly earnings declined by 0.9 percent in July to $420.71, reflecting the decline in average weekly hours. Over the past year, average hourly earnings have risen by 3.6 percent while average weekly earnings were up by 3.9 percent. (See table B-3.)